The Crusades, work in progress sorta writers block
by Teron Gorefiend
Summary: errrr its about the cruesades to jewrusalem, roughly based on fact, a lot of pure bs ut i thought it was funconstructive input welcomed, sorta got writers block


The Crusades

One day, in a mighty castle overlooking Antioch, a messenger boy called Moustafa Pomab was running franticly up a twirling flight of stairs towards his lord's battle room with an urgent scroll from the front. Moustafa was small boy not yet 15 standard crop rotations. His hair was black and untidy and formed a curl at the back. He was a shy boy who did his duties to best of his abilities. Moustafa was the youngest of 3 boys. The eldest, Ahmed Pomab who was 26, was in Turkey holding back the 'Cross devils' that rode on mighty steeds and wielded great hammers and claymores. The second oldest Rastari Pomab had joined a monastery far away in the Swiss Alps at 15. Moustafa had almost reached the room when his rival, Habib Hagonoony, stopped him. Habib was a member of the house guard and had been harassing Moustafa since he had been working as the messenger boy.

"And what are you doing here?" Habib asked him. "I…gasp… have…news from the …front." Moustafa managed to say before he collapsed at the door of the battle room. "Well then if it's that important I will have to see that he gets it then." Habib said as he opened the door to the battle room.

The battle room was a small room with one window over looking the drawbridge, three bookcases filled with scrolls and papyrus, a desk with piles of papyrus and scrolls and three chairs. Two of these were situated at either side of the door with officers of the house guard sitting in them. The other chair was at the desk occupied by Lord Achmed Fez of Antioch. Lord Achmed was reading scrolls containing information compiled by his general Momar who had ridden in from the legion at the front three days back. As Habib entered the guards jumped to attention and let him through. "Milord?" Habib asked tenaciously as he could see Achmed was busy. "Rraghphmph? Ah!Oh! Sorry! Yes? What is it?" Achmed asked. "News from the front milord" said Habib "it seems quite important." Achmed took the scroll and examined it. "Ah! Yes it is quite important. Where did you get this from?" Achmed asked, "Whoever acquired this is in need of promotion." Habib answered without a glance to the boy sitting on the stairs outside the door "I did milord." "You? You're a guard eh? Well now you are a captain of the guard. Go down stairs and see the general for your new orders." "Yes!" said Habib and exited the battle room.

When Habib's footsteps had faded, Achmed said politely "You! Boy! Come in here!" Moustafa walked in quickly wondering what horrid things Habib had said to get him in trouble this time. "Yes sir?" he asked as he stood by Achmed's chair. "You brought this here didn't you?" Achmed asked. "No." said Moustafa. "No? You mean Captain Habib did all that sprinting I heard up the stairs yet you were the one out of breath? No. I think it was you. But let us let young Habib have his promotion. Believe me its much better this way. Now since I promised promotions to whoever brought this to me I see that you would make a fine soldier in my most magnificent army. You look like a boy who would like that sort of thing. Do accept this…ah what is your name boy?" Achmed said. "It is Moustafa sir! I would like this opportunity sir! Thank you sir!" Moustafa said obediently. "Run along then and see the general for you uniform and orders." Achmed said. "Yes sir" Moustafa said and ran off "I hope you like the military!" Achmed shouted at Moustafa's retreating back. Achmed returned to his work thinking "_Boys going to war in a mans army. How did it come to this?_"

Two years later another boy was fighting in the Crusades, but he was on the other side of the battle line fighting _for_ the glory of Richard the Lionheart not against it.

Henry Arthurs was a 16 and a half-year-old battle hardened knight of England. He had only been 12 when he was knighted for saving his father who was one of the king's finest paladins, from a Turkish raiding party outside of Nice by creating a stamped to divert the raiders. He was knighted and trained and set off two years later with his father and the rest of the crusading army.

Henry wielded a double-headed hammer with a flat side and a spiked side. He rode on a mighty and strong steed, that slightly resembled a brown Clydesdale but you could not tell while it was wearing its half plate armour, called Rosenford. He had 9 Turkish kills to his name and was a fanatic for the Christian cause.

One night, north of Istanbul, two days before the army was to reinforce the front Henry sat alone as he prayed. He did this every night before he confessed his sins to their priest. He was praying for victory over the infidels. He was uneasy because he felt that he had not confessed a sin the day before but he couldn't remember what it was. After praying, he headed off through the lines of tents to the priest's tent, which stood next to King Richards.

Henry walked into the tent and made his way towards the confession cubicles. He entered the cubicle and pulled the curtain shut. "Forgive me father, I have sinned." Henry said as he sat down. "Father? Father are you there?" Henry asked as he stood up. He left the cubicle and peered in the opposite one to find Father John with slit throat. Henry looked up and saw a gaping hole going though the top of the cubicle and out to the cloudless star-filled sky. "ASSASINS! FIRE! DEATH! MURDERERS! TO ARMS! TO ARMS! ASSASINS! TO ARMS!" Henry roared as he ran from the father's tent. "TO ARMS! THERE IS A MURDERER AMONG US! Heavens above! Wake up! Our Father is slain!" Henry yelled at sleepy half dressed men emerging from tents. Henry rushed to his tent and put on his full-plate mail and readied his war hammer. He rushed to his horse that had been tied to a nearby tree. "Come Rosenford, fell deeds await and may death come to all infidels who abolish the way of Christ." he said as he saddled and armoured his warhorse.

He galloped of through the lines of tents and grabbed a flaming torch from a watchman. He saw a shadow disappear into a forest of the path. He headed for the forest with five ready paladins. As they galloped of into the night swinging their war hammers, claymores and battle-axes around their heads, they shouted curses and challenges to whoever could hear them. Henry and his group had just entered into the black forest when the trees around them filled with light and arrows. "AMBUSH!" Henry yelled as arrows whizzed past and glanced of their heavy armour. Once the raiders realised that their arrows had no effect other than enrage the horses, they jumped out wielding bent scimitars and spiked clubs. The knights were outnumbered 4:1. Henry and his band galloped around attacking as they went. Henry knocked a raiders head clean of his neck and hammered five more in the chest. He trampled another three. By this time all but 3 were left. Two charged at the knights while the other fled down a forest path. Halfway though their charge the two fell to a sweep of a double sided battle-axe. Henry galloped after the other. He was sure this was the one that he had seen earlier. He followed the raider down the path and was gaining when he was flung suddenly forward. His horse was tripped and he was winded. He crawled under a bush and regained his breath. After a couple of breaths he stood up to see that his horse was fine but half of his armour was ruined. Henry mounted his steed and, avoiding the log, returned to camp sure that he had let the assassin escape.

"Did you capture them?" King Richard asked as he questioned the 6 knights. "No sir" the knights said in unison. "I lost him after the ambush. But I will make it my holy quest to bring justice to the infidel." Henry said. "I will accept your quest and relieve you of your military duties until a time comes when your quest is fulfilled." Richard said

Henry left the tent and went to the provisions tent for dried fruit and seed cakes bound in thick brown cloth. He pack two months provision into his saddlebag and filled his four water bags with eight litres. He then went to the fodder tent and asked for some fresh hay. The guard there turned and asked " Yea be the one after that Turk who murdered our Father, may he rest in peace, just night past?" Henry replied, " Yes. I will send forth the infidel into hell for his fell deeds." Then the guard said, "Heres your feed and may Gods own hand lead your hammer deep into the infidels heretical head. God be with ye.". With that Henry made his way down to the burial of Father John. Henry paid his respects by swearing to bring justice to the murderer. Before sunset, Henry had his last meal with the army before setting off towards the forest where he'd lost the murderer.

Henry followed the forest making sure he looked for any logs or similar traps. He followed the path for about 4 hours until he found a small clearing. He decided to spend the rest of the night here. He jumped of Rosenford and led him a good 25 meters into the scrub surrounding the clearing. He found a small tree and tied Rosenford to it. After filling Rosenford's feedbag and attaching it to the tree, Henry took of the saddlebag and assembled his travel tent. He did this in the way he was trained. He set the pegs under bushes and then covered the tent with leaves and palm leaves. He then made a makeshift wall of twigs to hide Rosenford. He had a bite to eat and a mouthful of water and went to bed.

Henry woke up at daybreak and set to work packing up his stuff. He loaded his tent and dismantled the wall. He untied Rosenford and attached his saddlebag. Henry led Rosenford back to the clearing and mounted. He then proceeded down the path in search of the murderer.

Five days later, 6oo kilometres away at Kayseri in a low-lying valley, Moustafa, who was now a General in control of defending Kayseri. He and his second in command, who was an officer in control of a band of 50 trained militia horsemen who were proficient with bows and scimitars, were looking over a strategic map of Turkey with little coloured markers representing the Turkish army and the invading Crusaders. A officer walked in and said " Moustafa, we have news of your plan in Istanbul, the plan backfired sir instead of slowing the reinforcements down with the loss of their priest, they now long for our blood and have doubled in speed. And I have reports of a lone knight following the trail of the assassin." Moustafa stood up and started thinking. " I have heard of this knight. He is as far Konya. He is not our problem. Now back to the new army. Five days have passed since this information was sent, right? The reinforcements would've covered half the distance by then, even with their infantry and siege weapons. How's the news on the front?" He moved the large marker representing the reinforcements. "The Crusader army on the front is being held back at the walls of the city, they have but ladders, but when this new army comes we'll be over run." The officer said. Moustafa walked to the entrance of the tent and looked at distant battle to the north. He returned to the map and looked east to a large group of markers 2oo kilometres away that had been chasing a retreating army of Mongols who had been pillaging villages. "These are Omar's men, right?" Moustafa asked. "Yes" the officer, said uncertain why they had anything to do with the siege at hand. "YOU SIMPLE MINDED FOOL! GET ON YOUR HORSE AND GET THEM HERE WITHIN TWO DAYS OR I'LL HAVE YOU IN IRONS" Moustafa blasted at the shocked officer. Three guards came running in as the officer left. "We heard shouting" one of the guards said. "GET OUT AND MAN THE WALLS YOU MANGY CAMEL DROPPINGS!" The guards ran out and Moustafa followed them to the entrance of the tent. He walked back to the map and made a very small marker. He placed it at Konya. He wondered to himself what exactly was this knight up to?

That same day, in a small village just south of Konya, Henry had found an off duty Turkish militiaman in a mud hut. "Oh please! No more! I will tell you all I know. The assassination you speak of was done by Mussmadam, he is a leader of a band of raiders. He now defends the walls of Kayseri." Henry dropped the man in heap and walked backwards two steps. "Now tell me, how do you know this and who issued the order?"

The militiaman stood up defiant in the shadow of Henry. " First, I know this because I used to be in his band but he excluded me from it because he thought me to be incompetent when accidentally broke my horses leg. General Moustafa was the person who issued the order." Henry moved forward and looked down at the militiaman "Is Moustafa in Kayseri with Mussmadam?" Henry wished for a swift attack in a short space of time. "Yes. But Moustafa won't be near the fighting. He hasn't been on the field since he was promoted two months ago." The man said. At this Henry walked out of the mud hut. He covered the door and set the place of fire. He then washed the blood of his gauntlet at a nearby stream. He let Rosenford have a drink and gave him some hay. He then rode away towards Kayseri.

Two days later, Omar's army arrived at Kayseri. With the arrival of this army, the crusading army fell back and retreated to wait for their reinforcements. "They fell back?" Moustafa asked astonished. Moustafa had never heard of Richard laying off a siege until he had won it. "Yes. As soon as my men flanked them they retreated." Omar said. Moustafa said "Good. It gives us room to breathe. I just hope we will be prepared for the next onslaught." Omar said "We will move our forces to the wall they were attacking and build engines of war." Moustafa looked at him and said "But what about the perimeter? What about the rest of the wall?" Omar said "Ha! If Richard is as smart as I think he is, he will not risk a army split." At this Omar left the tent and went to the north wall to carry out his orders.

South of the city about 3 kilometres away, Henry was walking Rosenford along a main road when 5 men appeared from behind a tree. "Where do think your going _crusader_? We don't like your kind around here." The first said. "Yeah! You better turn back before I tell Moustafa." The second said. As the men drew their swords Henry said, "You will not get that far." Henry charged forward swinging his hammer around his head. The hammer connected with a Turks chest and sent him flying. The others scattered and one jumped on a horse and swiftly rode towards Kayseri. Henry shouted in anger and quickly jumped on Rosenford who trampled the other three and set out after the horseman.

Henry was too late. He came over a crest of a hill to see, in the distance, the rider entering the gatehouse on the southern wall. Henry quickly turned around and rode away.

He decided to join up with the assaulting army again. He believed he had a better chance of gaining access to the fort with the help of the heavy siege engines. He rode northwest towards the hill above the assaulted wall. Henry took the long way round as to not be seen little did he know that he way being followed by a cloaked soldier. The soldier watched Henry from the safety of a tree and saw him head off in the direction of the crusader army. The soldier returned to the Kayseri and headed for Moustafa's tent where a heated argument was under way.

Moustafa had learned of what had happened with the lone knight and was about to dispatch a company to kill him when Omah walked in and started to disagree with his latest orders "Even if we outnumber the Crusaders, I will not risk an open war on the plains. My men and cavalry, no matter how trained they are, are no use against the battle hardened knights and paladins." Omah argued. Moustafa said "I know we must defeat them at the walls, but when this happens we must mop them up." Omah argued. "I will not put my army in that situation. If you hadn't noticed, even in this heat, our camels are just not in the same league as the warhorses at King Richards's expense." Omar said this in a tone to say his decision was final. "Fine. What news of the crusader army? How big, how many engines and how far away?" Moustafa asked. Omar's face-hardened "They have at least 14600 armed units in his army. With 2500 long pikemen, 3000 swords, 4500 long bowmen, 2000 light cavalry, 300 pilums, 600 holy paladins, 200 kings guard heavy paladins, 1500 heavy cavalry. King Richard has 3 siege onagers, 2 heavy rams, 2 siege towers and…" Omar paused and let out a long sigh. He couldn't find words and started to get choked up. Moustafa's mind filled in the blank and his mouth went wide. "Oh no. No. Is it true? No. Please no." Moustafa said knowing what was Omah was to say. "Yes. It is true. He has brought Warwulf and 3 other heavy siege trebuchets. And he has enough ammo to desolate and flatten the entire city. They'll be here by sunset tomorrow" As Omaha finished Moustafa sank to the floor and buried his head in his hands. Warwulf was the most feared siege trebuchet. It could hurl a 600-pound boulder 500 yards. The very sight of Warwulf had ended sieges before they started. " What have you built behind the wall? And how many men do we have?" Moustafa asked as he got to his feet. "We have one onager and one extended rampart for our archers. We have 50 50-pound rocks and 20 oil-filled barrels. We have 20050 armed units. 5000 light camel cavalry, 8000 swords, 5000 archers, 200 mace men and 1850 heavy camels" Omah replied. Moustafa looked sick and dismissed Omah as a soldier walked in. He told Moustafa that the lone knight had joined the army. Moustafa realised this knight would probably be a bit of trouble but he was still in shock about Warwulf and he thought no more of the knight.

Henry had been waiting for the reinforcements for a whole day when, while he was on guard, he saw the top-throwing spike of Warwulf appear over the top of some trees. It was some minutes before the army had climbed the crest of the hill and the full glory of Warwulf was revealed. Just in front, surrounded by his royal guards, rode the King. Henry rode forward and joined the King's guard. "What have you found out about the murderer?" the King asked. "The murderer and the one whose orders he carried out both lie in the city." Henry said. Richard replied "I want you and your horse in the heavy ram. When it has broken though the wall you will be let out. Find and kill both of the infidels." Henry rode towards the back of the column of advancing troops and engines until he came across the larger ram. The ram known as God's own fist had a mighty tree at its heart held by 2 massive chains. It rolled upon 4 large wheels. God's own fist's roof was covered with chain mail, think leather and wet fur. At the end of the tree was a cast iron rams head that was pitch black and menacing. As Henry entered the back of God's own fist, the ram slowly pulled away at Henrys command. As the ram left the column the gap was filled with pikemen. A small cohort of longbow men followed behind. The ram faced towards the wall as the advancing column halted and stated setting up the heavy siege onagers and trebuchets. Warwulf and it own ammo was moved 400 yards away from the main group. It was anchored down and its bucket counterweight was filled with dirt. Somewhere from within the depths of the city a horn was blown. In response from this a hail of flaming arrows leaped up from behind the wall and fell to earth as if like a rain of fire. Flaming arrows stuck into the roof of God's own fist and some went through cracks in the wood. In answering, the longbow men fired high over the wall and their arrows came down vertically and pierced the thickest bit of the Turkish defences and kept going into the bowmen behind the wall. The ram was pulled back beyond the range of the Turkish archers as the horizon darkened. Henry and the rams' crew and longbow men walked up the hill towards the crusader camp

The boulder over shot the entire wall and landed near the middle of the city. In response a boulder was thrown from behind the wall just to land in front Warwulf. When this happened, King Richard ordered all other siege engines be mobilised. Meanwhile, a small hole had been made by God's own fist and as the ram was hurled once more, this time making a gaping hole. The ram backed away and made its way to the army. Henry got out and led a soldier-backed cavalry assault. As they moved towards the breached wall all of the siege engines, except Warwulf, fired at the same time sending a wall of rock flying at the now weakened wall. After the rocks hit, Warwulf let loose a low flying boulder that skimmed of the ground a couple of hundreds metres in front of the cavalry and continued into a roll towards the splintered wood that was the wall. The rolling boulder flattened the ruined wood and what was behind the wall, only coming to a stop when it had passed though three houses. After the boulder had flown over their heads, the cavalry broke rank and charged forward leaving the infantry to trail behind. Shocked Turkish heads peered around the side of the hole and sprang out after seeing the cavalry. Henry let loose a roaring war cry that was joined by the cries of the other knights. In response, Turkish spearmen appeared from behind the wall and formed a spear-wall. Henry and his knights made a sharp right. 2 of the knights couldn't turn and their horses were impaled on the spears sending the knights into the gaping hole in the wall. The flying knights curled into balls and rolled further into the city where a fight broke out between them and Turkish swordsmen. Meanwhile, the infantry moved in to attack the spearmen. From behind, the rest of the army moved in. Unfortunately for the crusaders the hole in the wall formed a bottleneck and getting the army through took time. Before half of the crusaders were in the Turkish army assaulted the unorganised crusaders. But the Turks soon found out that even an unorganised crusader army was still a force to be reckoned with when cornered. The resulting battle was both bloody and long. Neither side dare use siege engines for fear of hitting their own men. Henry made his way along the wall of the city and after killing 3 Turks was free of the fighting. He rode a couple of hundred if metres along the wall and turned towards the centre of the city.

Henry had ridden past 6 side streets when he heard the battle noise reach an all time high then slowly die down. Henry thought one of the army must of fell back. Which one fell back he found out. Down the street that Henry was on, hordes and hordes of swordsmen were running up the street. Before the front swordsmen had come within 15 metres of where Henry sat on Rosenford, the swordsmen looked up and let out a horrible shriek of despair and immediately turned around and fled down the street. They did not get far before a blood-soaked-turban wearing camel rider, that was shrieking loudly, sent them tumbling into side streets and open doors. As the rider came closer, Henry readied his war-hammer and got ready for a fight when the rider slipped off the side of the camel and was dead before he hit the ground. Henry looked down and saw a large and deep gash in the rider's head.

The street that Henry was on was all but deserted save two men. One was a crusader swordsman the other was what looked like a Turkish officer. The swordsman stumbled and the Turkish officer ran him through with his scimitar. The officer replaced his sword and looked up the street. The officer and Henry's eyes met and they were both filled with a slight tingle of fear. This disappeared and Henry got off of Rosenford and tied him to a nearby building. Then Henry turned towards the Turkish officer and walked towards him. The officer did the same and the two slowly got closer together when from different side streets crusaders and Turkish swords men appeared in front of Henry and the officer. The crusaders started fighting the Turks and Henry started to make his way through the fight bashing Turks as he went. On the other side the officer was slashing at crusaders as he made his way through. As the last fights were being fought the Turks retreated and were pursued by the crusaders.

"I am Mussmadam war chief of this village! You devils will taste my blade. They saw there is a knight that is after my blood for doing away with his precious priest. Well, I will have his and your blood before I am finished." The officer shouted as a line of camels crossed the street at a fast pace pursed by a knight on a horse. "I am that knight and I will cleanse the world of your heretical Satanist flesh." Henry said calmly. Mussmadam charged and Henry met his blow by blocking with the shaft of his war hammer. The two were almost touching chins when Henry pushed away and twirled around in two tight circles and swung his war hammer swishing over Mussmadam as he ducked under the war hammer. Mussmadam countered with short stab that glanced of Henry's full-plate armour and Henry backed away. Mussmadam lunged, and this time his sword found a gap between the leg plates and sliced a gash above Henry's knee. Henry crumpled and knelt on one knee. Mussmadam stepped backwards two steps and his brow formed a crease as he surveyed Henry. "You know, I grew up with stories of you so-called holy knights, with the power of your God protecting you, helping you, saving you from bodily harm and guiding you to His kingdom. Well look at you now. A frail, pathetic, wounded and abandoned soldier, forgotten by your God. The first time I saw you, you were chasing me and I was scared for my life. But now the tides have turned. Now before you die please tell me, where is your God now?" as he finished the sentence, Mussmadam raised his scimitar above his head with the point aimed at Henrys' exposed face. When Henry didn't speak, Mussmadam got ready to strike when his eyes went wide. A sharp clang sounded from behind Henry and the end of a crossbow bolt was suddenly sticking out of Mussmadam's chest. A low sly voice sounded from behind Henry "God…is not here. I am. And that's all that counts."

Mussmadam fell like a tree and hit the ground still holding his scimitar above his head. As Henry turned around slowly he saw his saviour. Henry, expecting a crusader crossbowman, was taken aback when he saw the man. He was a tall, thin, lightly built man hidden in a flowing black cloak that cast shadows over the mans face. A crossbow was protruding from the cloak pointed at Henry. Hidden hands held the crossbow and the only thing Henry could see was the glint of his eyes. "Thank you. Who are you?" Henry said as he reached for his war hammer. The glinting eyes saw this movement and the man said "You will not be needing that at this moment. As for my name, until I am ready, is not needed by you." Seeing Henry's thoughts, the man spoke. "The reason why you are still alive is still being debated. Will you cooperate?" Henry, sensing this was a tense moment, answered cautiously. "Yes. But only to a certain extent." The man hooked the crossbow somewhere on his back and moved to a more casual stance. "This is good. You have proven your use on the battlefield and now your loyalty to opportunities. I am Garrett. You are Henry. I have been following you since I saw you in the forest a couple of days back. Before I saw you, I was tracking that man there for a bounty." Garrett bent down and lifted Henry on to his shoulders. He then walked into a nearby building and placed Henry carefully on the floor. Garrett exited the building, leaving Henry alone.

When Garrett came back, he was leading Rosenford and another horse. Garrett's horse was a light brown scout horse with a small leather saddle and two saddlebags. He tied both to a pole in the corner of the house. Garrett then said "I must leave for a long time now. The distance to my temporary lodging in this city is very far. If someone comes and does not make this sound," he rapped three times paused and twice again "shoot them with this." Garrett unhooked his crossbow, loaded it and handed it to Henry. "Try to undo your armour and I will clean and dress your wounds when I get back." Garrett left and Henry started to undo his thigh and knee plates. There was a bloody slice of skin was hanging from his knee and his muscle was exposed. There was moderate bleeding so Henry gripped his knee tightly to stop the flow. Henry stiffened, he could hear noises outside the building. He could hear Turkish voices. They moved away. A couple of minutes later he could hear crusaders voices. He tried to shout at them but found he couldn't speak. Henry heard the men outside move on. Henry sat wondering what mess had he gotten him self into. He started dozing of and fell asleep.

Henry awoke to a painful stinging on his knee. Garrett had returned and was cleaning his wound with a strange smelling liquid. He looked at Garrett and asked, "What is that?" Garret answered, "It is liquid collected from weed stems mashed and sifted 5 times through horse hair." Hearing this Henry jumped to his feet and backed away from Garrett. A mad look came into Henry's eyes and Garrett reached for his crossbow. "WITCHCRAFT! HOW DARE YOU SOIL MY BODY WITH SORCERY? YOU HAVE STAINED ME AGAINST MY GOD!" To Henry's surprise Garrett let out a burst of laughter. Outrage and morally shocked Henry yelled hysterically at Garrett " YOU JEST!" Henry screamed squeaking at the last word. "It is not witchcraft or sorcery. Its called Asian medicine and it is used and condoned by your religion." Henry sat back down and, though he still had a mad look in his eyes, took sharp breaths through gritted teeth. "So what do you want?" Henry asked as Garrett wrapped white cloth around Henry's wound. "From what I have heard, exactly what you want, the death of Moustafa. You do it for revenge I, however, do it for money. Help me, and ill gladly give you half. The bounty is 5000 gold pieces. But this bounty is from a private dealer who has been done wrong by the warlord." Garrett said as he ate small pieces of a dark loaf of bread that he had pulled out of his saddlebag. "Ok I will help but this is a mutual situation. And by the way, I have noticed you to be an excellent marksman, bounty hunter and I didn't hear you move behind me when you shot down Mussmadam before. What do you do?" Henry asked. "We must get moving. The winds of fortune don't blow the same, we have to get out, for much has changed. Night comes to late these days and the darkness is short. Beware the coming of The Metal Age." As he finished this passage, Garrett started to pack up his healing kit and hooked his crossbow on his back. Confused Henry asked, "Where did you get that passage from?" Garrett, hearing the question, moved into the shadows and seamed to disappear. Henry, confused, got to his feet and moved, arms outstretched, towards the shadow. His hands found bare wall. "I'm not there." Garrett said from behind Henry. Garrett watched, as Henry turned around, Henry's eyes glaze and the look came back into his eyes. "Not magic of any sort. Not even _witchcraft_. I am The Silent Shadow, The Unseen One, The Thieving Ghost and also known to my friends, if any, as Garrett." Garrett bowed and said "Master Thief at your service. I am hired by the biggest wallets and lend favours to those trustworthy enough." A look of understanding came into Henry's eyes. "Did you know that if you combined all of the rewards for my capture together it would almost equal 20,000 pounds?" Garrett said with a tone that said he was proud of this fact. "I understand. No I will not give you in if you help me and I hold no grudge against you." Henry said. As Henry said this, Garrett stepped out of the shadows and said "Praise the Watcher may he guide thieves to riches far greater than treasure." He made a couple of points in the air vaguely resembling Orion. They both started to pack up their stuff and waited for dark.

" It's no good Moustafa! The city is overrun!" said a sub-general to the warlord. Moustafa turned towards the city noting small patches of engagement in the maze of houses. "RETREAT! You!" Moustafa said pointing at the sub-general "Get on the swiftest steed to be found and ride fast to Antioch. Tell King Achmed, The battle is lost at Kayseri, retreating to your position, heavy siege weapons and Warwulf, very slow moving army, many losses to our side and ask him to call in reinforcements from Syria and Jerusalem. Tell him this and you'll be promoted." The sub-general ran towards a group of saddled horses and rode of towards Antioch. Moustafa turned his back on the city and jumped on a horse. He rode towards Antioch and lead the retreat. A loud cry issued from the city and Moustafa turned to see soldiers atop of Kayseri's keep jumping around waving an English flag. Upon seeing this, Moustafa's army broke rank and fled as fast as they could towards Antioch.

"Is it time yet?" Henry asked Garrett as they peered out the houses window. "Almost. Another 30 minuets should be enough. Your dammed Crusader patrols are everywhere. It will much easier to go outside of the walls and go around than go through the guts of the city." Garrett hissed in a barley audible whisper. Henry, used to being seen and heard when doing such things, found all the waiting rather boring. Henry moved to the back of the room and slumped against the wall. 30 minutes of silent waiting passed and finally Garrett announced it was time. He bent down and checked the thick leather shoes that he had strapped to the bottom of both their horses and led his horse out with Henry and Rosenford close behind. The journey passed slowly as they ducked into side streets and dodged patrol lights with the constant murmurings of Garrett complaining that his new friend made as much noise as a burning cat. When at last they had reached the wall, Garrett pulled out a fine, jewelled, dagger and started cutting the bindings holding the logs in place in the palisade wall. He cut away a total of 4 logs that left a hole big enough for Rosenford. Garrett pulled out a bundle of frayed sting and loosely tied the logs back into place. Henry and Garrett then undid the leather horseshoes and jumped on their horse. They rode into a nearby forest and followed the treeline southeast towards Antioch.


End file.
